Trap.



W. F. CORNELIUS.

l TRAP.'

APPLlcAnoN minfin. a. 19m.

Famed Dee.. 11,;1917.

lli

WILLIAM FELIX CORNELIUS, or BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA..

TRAP.

Application filed February 8, 1916. Sera1No.'77,001.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM F. CORNELIUS, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Birmingham, in the county of Jeerson and State of Alabama, have in vented certain new and useful Improvements in Traps, of which the following is a specification. i y f Myinvention relates to traps adapted for use incatching or destroying mice, rats and larger animals.

Instead of utilizingtrap doors and like means forentrapping the quarr4 I have conceived of the use of `a reciprocable plunger mechanism actuated by a spring `or like means and controlled by a trigger mechanism so that when the latter is tripped by the quarry the plunger will spring forward and strike the quarry.

In one arrangement of my invention, the trap is provided with a receiving compartment having a self closing door disposed opposite the plunger so that the latter in strikingthe quarry will knock it through the door and into the storage compartment. In order that the greatest usefulness may be obtained from the trap, I have provided it with a motor in which energy is stored, such for instance as a spring motor, which is controlled by the trigger and plunger mechanisms so that it will automatically retract the plunger and reset its actuating spring after the plunger has made its stroke. Preferably the plunger is provided with pointed studs or pins'to stab or impail the quarry and these arevpreferably designed so that the quarry will be thrown yoff of them and into the storage compartment.

My invention also comprises the novel details of construction and arrangements of parts, which in their preferred embodiment only are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which g Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view taken longitudinally through the trap.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. l.

Fig. 3 isv an enlarged vertical sectional view taken on the line 3-3 .of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4: is an enlarged elevation of the controlling mechanism for the plunger.

Figs. 5 and 6 are diagrammatic views illustrating the manner in which the plunger is automatically shifted toits two planes of horizontal travel.

Similar reference numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.

`As illustrated in the drawings, Ishow a trap adapted for catching and destroying rats, squirrels, or small animals valued for their pelts `or which damage crops. The trap itself comprises `atone end a storage compartment 1 closed in on all sidesvand having an inwardly opening door 2 hinged at 3 and` provided with a weight or like means to ho-ld it normally closed and to cause it to close quickly and automatically when released. The lower edge of the door is spaced substantially above the floor 5 of the compartment 1 which is formed by part of the bottom ofthe trap. The trap has a transverse vertical wall 6 spaced from the wall 7 of the storage compartment and disposed parallel therewith. These walls 6 andA 7 are connected overhead tothe top 8 of the trap and at their lower ends are connected by a raised bottom 9. The sides of the entrapping compartment bounded by the walls 6, 7, 8 and 9are left open and inclined run ways 10 are provided up which the quarry can walk onto the floor 9. Above the floor 9is disposed a trigger platform 11 which is connected to the yoke end 0f a trigger bar 12 which is passed through a suitable opening in the wall 6 and pivoted on a bracket 13 beyond which its free end extends and is loosely pivoted to a rocker arm 141 which is pivoted at an intermediate point to a bracket 15 and having hinged to its free end a yoke member 16 having alining openings which receive a cross pin 17 that is held inposition between and `guided by vertical guide slots 18 in the side walls of a narrow compartment 19 which forms` a housing for the oper-1 ating mechanism of the trap. The wall 6 has a narrow vertically elongated slct-20 through which a plunger 21 passes freely, having a wide plunger head 22 disposed slightly above the trigger platform. The rear end of the plunger passes through an opening in the end wall 23 of the compartment 19. A nut 24 is screwed on the outer end of the plunger and holds a cushion pad 25 in position to engage thewall 23 and arrest the forward travel of the plunger. A coil spring 27 surrounds the plunger between the wall 23 and a collar 28 made fast on the plunger. `This collar is substantially wider than thespring and is adapted to engage stop lugs 29 .on the sides of the compartment` 19 soas to stopithe travel of plunger at a predetermined point in its travel to the left, e., its retracting movement. The spring 27, when released, will tend to thrust the plunger toward the right and to its dotted line position Fig. 1. The intermediate portion of the plunger is flattened. land provided along its upperv edge with a rack bar 29 and on eachside of the. rack bar with narrow longitudinal guide flanges V30 which have their ends 31 and 32 bevl Brackets 34'are attached on each side of the walls .'18 and have' their inner ends` 35 disposed close 'to the flattened sides of the plunger and either above or below the flanges .30# according to the .direction of travel andthe position of the plunger relatively thereto. f vThese guide ends 35 are beveled 'in the same manner ask the plunger guides to prevent the flanges 30 hanging against them. 1 mount a gear wheel 36 to turn on va crank shaft 37 and mesh with and drive the rack 29l when the plunger is in its raised positionand to clear the rack when the plunger is in its lowered position. A ratchet Ywheel'38fast on Shaft 37 is held against clockwise rotation by a springpressed pawl 39 mounted on the side of the gear 36. 1 A dog 40 is pivoted toa cross pin 41 and at its free end is en aged by a spring 42 connected to the boX and tending to draw thedog out of engagement with the gear 36. To the pin 41 is connected one end of a coil spring43, its other end being connected to the crank shaft -37 in such manner that it willdrive gear 36 clockwise when free to act. VA 'rod- 44 connects thepin 17 with the dog so that the latter is drawn into engagement with the gear 36 at the moment the plunger is drawn downwardly to disengage rack 29 from gear 36. The tension on the spring 42 is adjusted to counterbalance the weight of the trigger through the connecting mechanism and support it delicately balanced until such balance is overcome by the weight of thefquarry.. Pointed spuds v46 are provided on the face of the plunger head 22 which eX- tends crosswise over and beyond the trigger platform 11 but is narrower than the opening for the door2.

In operation, assuming that the spring 43 has been wound up by the handle 47 on the crank shaft 37 and that the trap is set with the plunger lretracted to the full line position, Fig. 1, in which position the coil spring 27l is under compression, as the quarry walks upontoI the floor level 9 it must step on the trigger in order to reach the bait 48 suspended'abovethe trigger by la cord 49 from the top 8 of the trap. The quarrys weight will trip the trigger, throwing the trigger bar 12 and rocker arm 14 to dotted line positions shown in Fig. 4.-l This will draw downwardly the cross bar 17 and with it the plunger, so as to disengage its rack 29 from gear 36,. and the dog 40 so as to hold the gear against rot-ation. When the plunger is drawn down its side guide ianges 30 are shifted below guides 35 so that as the plunger, when released from the gear 36, springs` outwardlyvunder the thrust of spring 37, the plunger flanges 30 will pass under the guides 35 which serve to hold the rack in its lowered position clear of the gear until the plunger reaches its extreme travel to the right and in doing so theplunger will have struck the quarry and forced it against the door 2 which will open and permit itto fall into the compartment 1. lVhen the quarry is knocked off the trigger, the latter is released and responsive to the pull of spring 42 will resume its normal operating position. At the same time the upward pull on the pint17 will exert an up thrust upon the plunger so that when the plunger reaches the end of its travel, as shown in dotted lines Fig. 6, and clears the guide 35, it will be lifted to its upper or retracting position. When this occurs the rack 29 is brought into engagement with the gear 36 and the dog 40 is disengaged therefrom so that the gear wheel 36 is released t0 rotate responsive to the action of the spring 43 and being then in mesh with the rack 29, will force the plunger to the left and the guides 35 being then under the flanges 30, will hold the plunger rack in engagement with the gear wheel 36 until it has completed its resetting stroke and the spring seat strikes the 1 ,y i"

stops 29, whereupon it is free to drop from the dotted line position in Fig. 5, to the full line position of Fig. 4, in which position the spring 43 overcomes the spring 37 and holds the plunger against operation until the trigger disengages the rack from the gear wheel 36-and releases the plunger. It will thus be seen that, responsive to the operation of the trigger mechanism, the plunger is thrust forward by the spring 37 and is thrust back by the spring 43 against the action of the spring 37 and held, and in this manner the trap is capable of repeated operation until the power stored in the spring 43 is insufficient to overcome the spring 27 and reset the plunger in the position shown in Fig. 4. The necessity for the flanges 30 and guides 35 is that they co-act to positively hold the plunger, while moving between its extreme positions, in engagement with or disengaged from the gear 36 and thus prevent anything short of a full stroke in either direction for the plunger. The pointed spuds on the plunger head may be designed to kill or impale the quarry but preferably they are intended mames? y I claim as 'new and desire to` secure by `Letters Patent, is z--f i 1. A trap comprising atrigger .mechanism, ya spring-pressed:plungeradapted to he released'rby said trigger .mechanism and to spring forward and strike a quarry while in vthegactxof tripping rsaid trigger mechanism, la Vstop to limit ,the stroke` of the plunger, and a compartment having a self closing door disposed just beyondftheilimit of the plungers forwardistrdke and adapted to be opened by the impact of the quarry and admit it'to saidy compartment.

2. A trap comprising a trigger mecha* nism, a spring-pressed striker adapted to be released by said trigger mechanism, a spring to thrust the striker forward to strike a quarry while in the act of tripping said trigger mechanism, spring motor driven means automatically operable to reset the spring-pressed striker against the action of the spring which thrusts it forward, and means to reset the trigger mechanism.

3. In a trap, a trigger mechanism, a reciprocable plunger, means operated by the trigger mechanism to depress the plunger, a compression spring acting to thrust the plunger forward, resetting means to retract and hold the plunger in retracted position with its spring compressed from which means it is released only while depressed, and co-acting means to lock the resetting means and hold the plunger in depressed position during its thrusting movement, substantially as described.

4t. A trap comprising a trigger mechanism, a spring-pressed plunger adapted to be released by said trigger mechanism and to spring forward and strike a quarry while in the act of tripping said trigger mechanism, a spring to thrust Said plunger forward, motor driven means automatically operable to reset the plunger, means to reset the trigger mechanism, and a storage compartment having a trap door disposed to be opened by the plunger to admlt the quarry into said compartment.

5. A trap comprising a trigger mechanism and a plunger, a spring adapted to thrust the plunger forward, a spring adapted to retract the plunger against the action of the first mentioned spring, and mechanism lcontrolled by i; the @trigger n mechanism: v

.for :bringing Said springs-alternately into control ofv the plunger to releaseitforaopery ation and vto resetit. z

V6. A trap ucomprisinglatrigger mechanism, a spring-pressed striker, a driving springifor thecstrikenpower rmeans to `retract vand hold the striker retracted with its driving spring under tension, vlatch means for said :powenmeanauand means lcontrolthereby` to first release.` the striker and` `hold .the power mechanismy .and `at the .end-c :of the strikers `stroke to `release `the power mechanism ,and means to operatively connect 1 the power mechanism to :the striker il to retract it and restore the tension pto" its ldriving spring'.`

7. A trap comprising a.'triigger .mechanism, a reciprocalble "plunger uadapted fto strike the iquarry `whiler on 'the trigger, a driving spring, to thrust the plu-nger against lable bythe trigger'- mechanism and operable A the quarryyagcoiled spring, meansdriven f therebyl and adapted to retractithefplunger f and place its driving spring under compression, said; means comprisi'ngaiv springld-riveli e' gear, a rack on the plunger, means to move said rack into and out of engagement with said gear, and stop means to limit the reset stroke of the plunger.

8. In a trap, a trigger mechanism, a plunger mounted to reciprocate in the trap, guide flanges on each side of the plunger, fixed guides disposed to be cleared by the plunger flanges at the eXtreme ends of their travel and in intermediate positions of travel to engage the fianges above or below to hold the plunger at a given level, a spring motor having a driving gear, a rack on the plunger adapted to engage the gear in the/ elevated position of the plunger and to be disengaged from the gear in the lower position of the plunger, a spring adapted to thrust the plunger forward, latch means to lock the motor, and connections from the trigger mechanism to both plunger and latch and arranged to release the latch only when the plunger rack is in mesh with the gear.

9. In a trap, a reciprocable plunger with spring means to thrust it forward and stops to limit its travel, a trigger mechanism having a sliding connection with the plunger and adapted to raise and lower it, and a spring motor driven means releasable by the trigger mechanism and adapted to engage and reset the plunger against the action of its spring and to hold it in reset position, and means controlled by the trigger mechanism to lock the spring motor and disengage the plunger therefrom, said means holding the motor locked until the plunger has completed its stroke and resumes engagement with the motor, substantially as described.

10. In a trap, a striker, a spring means to v thrust the'. striker forvvard5'a'str'onger spring l retainr said striker in'- arset position, quarry operatedl means having means connected thereto adapted to engage said. rack bar to disengage. the same from said irst mentioned` .means vand allow for the movement of'. said striker. and automatically operated meansnincluding said ,wrst .mentioned means to move said rack bar and return said striker.

tozay set position. y, n Y 12. Aetraptcomprising a base, a casing thereon; a sprmg actuated striker associated Withfsaiol` casing,-.a rack bar on said striker Wheel in. said casing,

andi projected into saidcasing, a driven cog gagement with said rack bar to normally hold the same so as to retain said striker in a set position, means for disengagin said rack bar from said gear Wheel, and en argements on said casing and said rack bar adapted to abut Wherebysaid rack bar is returned to engagement With said gear Wheel and by movement of the same return said striker to a setposition.

13. A trap including a casing, a movable striker, a rack bar on said striker and eX- tending into said casing, means in said casing for engagingsaid. rack bar to retain said striker in` a set position, a quarry operated means having means connected thereto Y VWILLIAM FELIX CORNELIUS.

' Witness: v `NormaV WELSH.

i Y Copies offdthivsrpatent may be'obtained fr'vevcents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

" L Washington,D.C." Y 

